MAHB sees higher earnings in Q2 on fair value gain

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) net profit soared 38.3% to RM86.12 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 against RM62.26 million in the previous corresponding period, mainly due to unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) amounting to RM258.4 million.
Its revenue expanded 5% to RM1.15 billion from RM1.1 billion.
However, its cost increased 2.8% to RM2.18 billion as compared with the corresponding period last year, mainly dragged by construction cost in relation to the construction of the boarding hall expansion of Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA) amounting to RM68.1 million.
The group has proposed to declare an interim dividend of 5 sen for the quarter under review.
For the first half of the year, MAHB reported a four fold jump in net profit to RM530.72 million from RM126.54 million on the back of an 8.1% rise in revenue to RM2.37 billion from RM2.19 billion.
The group said in a filing with the stock exchange that its network of airports (including ISGIA) recorded 64.9 million passengers in the current period under review of 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2018, representing a growth of 5.2% over the corresponding period last year.
International passengers traffic improved 8.5% while domestic passengers traffic increased 2.4%.
MAHB expects the performance for the financial year ending December 31, 2018 to be better than the previous year driven by growth momentum in the Malaysian economy, moderate seat capacity expansion and stable growth in Turkey operations.
On Bursa Malaysia today, MAHB gained 17 sen or 1.9% to RM9.30 on 6.74 million shares traded.